Bee is about to finish middle school before entering a boarding high school and as a reward for getting perfect grades requests a family trip to Antarctica. Her mother, Bernadette, dislikes interacting with people so enlists the help of an online personal assistant to get things together. Her father, Elgin, a project leader at Microsoft works a bit more to complete things there. Simultaneously the private school Bee is currently attending is trying to expand and attract more affluent students, coming into direct conflict with Bernadette. Which sets off a string of controversies and catastrophes leading to the disappearance of Bernadette. All told in a flurry of emails, letters and articles with supplemental narration by Bee.
I liked how the story unfolded through documentation. It was easy to follow with the headers, everyone was able to have a first person narration, most people had a unique voice, and there were plenty of places to stop reading. I was very slow to finish the book because I didn't like a single character. I didn't hate a character either. They were all quirky, but not funny to me. The Seattle rich were skewered (or apparently moderately wealthy for the area) but the family story won out over a more biting class satire. Issues of metal illness were touched upon and lightly teased, but not really worked through. The story was both completely unbelievable and standard family drama.
I can see how it is popular, it's just not for me.
by Maria Semple
3 stars
Bee is about to finish middle school before entering a boarding high school and as a reward for getting perfect grades requests a family trip to Antarctica. Her mother, Bernadette, dislikes interacting with people so enlists the help of an online personal assistant to get things together. Her father, Elgin, a project leader at Microsoft works a bit more to complete things there. Simultaneously the private school Bee is currently attending is trying to expand and attract more affluent students, coming into direct conflict with Bernadette. Which sets off a string of controversies and catastrophes leading to the disappearance of Bernadette. All told in a flurry of emails, letters and articles with supplemental narration by Bee.
I liked how the story unfolded through documentation. It was easy to follow with the headers, everyone was able to have a first person narration, most people had a unique voice, and there were plenty of places to stop reading.
I was very slow to finish the book because I didn't like a single character. I didn't hate a character either. They were all quirky, but not funny to me. The Seattle rich were skewered (or apparently moderately wealthy for the area) but the family story won out over a more biting class satire. Issues of metal illness were touched upon and lightly teased, but not really worked through. The story was both completely unbelievable and standard family drama.
I can see how it is popular, it's just not for me.